A couple of anamorphs for ID/confirmation

[stickman]

Hi all

The first is a coelomycete on a Picea cone:



Spores 36-45 x 13-18 µm.



I think it's Sphaeropsis sapinea but I can't find any records for this substrate & Ellis & Ellis only mention Pinus (& Prunus)....

The second is an utter mystery to me. A clavaroid growth at the base of a birch tree, reminiscent of a weathered X.hypoxylon:



Spores various shades of brown, 15-30 x 5-10 µm, 1-septate



Conidiophores (?) dark, tube-like, septate. The one below is producing a spore at it's tip. Also observed were dark clusters of cells with pointed setae-like hairs (80-100 µm)



A nudge in the right direction would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
Nick

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by stickman

Hi all

The first is a coelomycete on a Picea cone:



Spores 36-45 x 13-18 µm.



I think it's Sphaeropsis sapinea but I can't find any records for this substrate & Ellis & Ellis only mention Pinus (& Prunus)....

The second is an utter mystery to me. A clavaroid growth at the base of a birch tree, reminiscent of a weathered X.hypoxylon:



Spores various shades of brown, 15-30 x 5-10 µm, 1-septate



Conidiophores (?) dark, tube-like, septate. The one below is producing a spore at it's tip. Also observed were dark clusters of cells with pointed setae-like hairs (80-100 µm)



A nudge in the right direction would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
Nick

hi Nick

the top one is surely S. sapinea - see:
Micro fungi

in his original description of Sphaeria sapinea (as he called it) - in Systema Mycologicum II(2): 491 (1823) Elias Fries writes of the habitat "Ad cortices & ramos abiegnos & pineos . . . emortuos, vere." so although he doesn't mention cones he does imply that he had also seen the same fungus on Abies, so why not Picea; indeed, I've just checked Volume II of W.B. Groves' "British Stem and Leaf Fungi" (1937) and he says of the fungus he calls Diplodia sapinea: "This species is also recorded on Abies, Picea and Araucaria" - so check out your local monkey puzzles!

with regard to the second fungus, surely this is conidial Xylaria hypoxylon - not necessarily old, it generally produces conidia first; the micro-shots you have posted look like a bunch of secondary invaders/piggy-backers to me

best I can do

cheers

Chris

[stickman]

Cheers Chris

The second one was interesting - no conidia I would usually associate with Xylaria & the wrong texture too (vey soft).
As you suggest, probably something parasitising it. The dark clusters of cells suggested immature perithecia - today they look as though they are 'splitting' to produce paraphyses (but no asci). You can probably just about make these out as black 'dots' in the first pic.

Maybe one to go back to in a day or too.

Thanks for that extra info on S.sapinea.

Cheers,
Nick